


Playing with Mirrors

by volleyball_crow



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials, Because I needed it, Daemons, Gen, His Dark Materials Inspired, daemon!AU - Freeform, the one in which everyone is intimidated by Hinata on sight, this is terribly self indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-06 09:15:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6747964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/volleyball_crow/pseuds/volleyball_crow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first glace, people never think of Hinata as particularly remarkable or impressive. That lasts until they realize Hinata's daemon settled as a wolf.</p><p>**</p><p>Entire reason for this AU: no one ever notices how badass Hinata is until he has one of <i>those</i> moments. What if he was walking around with a physical representation of his fierceness visible for all to see and impossible to hide?<br/>(in other words,  daemon!AU because this fandom needed it. okay, so mostly <i>I</i> needed it, but I'm sure other people out there were needing it too.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first thing they always notice is his height.

"Oi, look at that, they let even middle schoolers participate these days," laughs the taller one, head and shoulders above Hinata, and elbows his friend. On his shoulder, his chameleon daemon cackles.

The friend just smiles a little, but elbows him back and whispers back something about not being mean to the little ones. The dog daemon leaning against his legs nods with approval. "Are you lost?" the shorter boy asks Hinata, not unkindly. They haven't noticed Hinata's daemon yet. 

"I'm a high schooler!" Hinata protests.

"You're a what?"

Hinata grits his teeth, feels his hands ball into fists. Why do people always do this, _he's not that short_. "High schooler! I'm from Karasuno!"

That seems to give them pause, and they finally notice the jersey he's wearing, the white kanji clearly marking him as one of the Karasuno players.

"You're... playing volleyball?" the one with the chameleon sounds like he's trying not to laugh.

"Karasuno must be so desperate for players, they'll let anyone in these days," the other one smirks, all traces of kindness gone.

They both start laughing, only to abruptly stop when a savage growl capable of freezing their very blood in their veins makes the air around them vibrate.

The first thing they always notice is his height. 

The second is the huge daemon following him.

Their eyes widen, and their daemons startle in place, hackles rising immediately.

"IS THAT-?"

His daemon steps forward, leans against Hinata's legs. Their eyes are a similar shade of golden brown as they both look up at the frozen boys standing in front of the bathroom.

"W-wolf daemon..." the whisper is quiet, like the boy who said it is almost afraid to say it out loud.

The low growl lilts into a snarl. Both boys jump back a step. The chameleon daemon has gone dark with fear and is trembling on its perch. The dog daemon stands bravely in front of its human, but it keeps its head low and its eyes averted, tail between its legs. It will fight if need be, but it knows how that will end.

The most frightening thing might even be how Hinata's face, after the initial annoyance, remained perfectly neutral throughout the whole thing. They both eye Hinata with a wariness they would have never imagined they'd feel when they first spotted him moments ago.

"That's mean," Hinata says with a frown, "She has a name. It's Vrana."

"R-right."

"Sorry about that, man. Good luck with your matches."

So fast they almost get whiplash, Hinata's mood immediately shifts and a sunny smile blooms on his face. "Thanks! You too!" he chirps as he walks into the bathroom.

"Sure, y-yeah," both boys murmur, quickly getting out of Hinata's way, trying not to make it obvious they just want to scramble away from him.

Vrana follows her human into the bathroom, throwing one last glare at the boys.

They always notice his height first, but that's not really the detail that gets stuck in their minds.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[Yukigaoka Junior High, end of Hinata’s 1st year]**

Ibera landed gracefully on Yukitaka's shoulder and together they descended the last flight of stairs. No one was in that area of the school at lunch time, which made it the perfect place for Shouyou and Vrana to hide away in.

When Yukitaka finally reached the end and squinted at the darkness under the stairs, he almost expected to see the same thing he'd seen so often since the year had started - Vrana in gorilla shape, as big as she could make herself be so Shouyou could hide in her arms so completely only his bright red hair could be seen, shining in the sunlight against his daemon's dark fur.

But no, they'd abandoned that habit recently. Some 3rd year had found them and sneered at how 'childish' they were acting. Yukitaka once again scoffed at the memory. As if seeking comfort from your own daemon in any way that worked best was somehow a sign of maturity, or lack thereof.

Anyway, since then, he'd never seen Shouyou and Vrana do it again. They still hid away like this whenever the frustration just got too much, whenever they were made fun of again, whenever someone laughed a little too hard at his determination to play volleyball... Shouyou never let it show, and he didn't need these retreats very often, but. They still did it from time to time.

Under the stairs, tucked into the dark corner of the building, Shouyou was sitting on the cold floor hugging his knees. Vrana was a snake, coiled around his neck. She suddenly moved and turned to confront Yukitaka and Ibera, but her furious hiss died before it even left her when she recognized them.

"Shouyou," Yukitaka called softly.

He got no response, but then he hadn't been expecting much of one. So he carefully maneuvered his way into the spot next to Shouyou, and then put down the bento boxes in front of them. Ibera, now a snake as well in solidarity, slithered from Yukitaka’s shoulder to his lap and made herself comfortable there. She knew better than to go strangle Vrana in a hug right away.

"I got yours too," Yukitaka said as he grabbed and unwrapped the cloth around his own bento. "You should eat." Oooh, sweet tamagoyaki. Yum. He picked up the chopsticks.

"Don't wanna," Vrana muttered in Shouyou's stead. Oh boy. They’d known each other since elementary school, and as close friends, the usual rules of politeness - daemons should not talk to humans besides their own or their relatives - did not apply between them, and Vrana talked directly to Yukitaka just as often as Ibera talked to Shouyou or he and Shouyou talked to each other. But whenever Shouyou went completely silent and Vrana spoke for him, then it was bad news.

With a frown, Yukitaka lowered his chopsticks. "What did they say." It was not a question.

No answers came from Vrana and Shouyou's side, so Ibera shifted into a ferret and climbed up to Yukitaka's left shoulder, closer to Shouyou. " _Vrana_ ," she hissed, with the you-better-tell-me-now-what's-wrong-or-you-won't-like-what-I-do she'd used to so often during their childhood. 

They said every group of friends had a mom friend. He never expected his daemon to be the mom friend. Did that mean _Yukitaka_ was the mom friend, since technically he and Ibera were one and the same? Argh, no, bad Yukitaka, stop. 

Ibera's tone of authority seemed to work, because Shoyou squirmed and uncurled a little, just enough to raise his eyes from his arms to look at the two of them. Taking this chance to introduce some more bait, Yukitaka cut a bit of tamagoyaki and stuffed it into Shouyou's mouth.

Huh. Will you look at that. Maybe he _was_ the mom friend.

Shouyou munched on his mouthful of tamagoyaki, looking mildly indignated at first but shifting quickly to just seeming hungry, and eyeing Yukitaka’s lunch with curiosity.

Ibera made a small chattering noise in his direction and climbed down Yukitaka’s shoulder to go push Shouyou’s bento in his direction with her head. "Yours," she said, pointedly.

"We know," Vrana sniffed, annoyed. Reptiles in general were hard to read because their faces didn't lend themselves much to expression, but Vrana's voice always showed clearly how she felt no matter what form she took. "Stop nagging," Vrana added as she slithered her way down to the ground.

Shouyou finally moved to grab his bento and started eating with a quiet "thanks for the food" while Vrana coiled herself around his ankle and Ibera looked at all three of them approvingly. Yukitaka couldn't help but wonder if he did that too sometimes. He and Ibera would need to have a talk about that.

But before that, more important business had to be dealt with.

"So," he started. He sneaked a glance at Shouyou through the corner of his eye before continuing and had to pause. "Wait, how are you even doing that?"

Shouyou's cheeks were full of food and round like balloons as he chewed frantically. Yukitaka looked down to see his bento was already half-empty, then back up at Shouyou's straining cheeks. "That can't be healthy."

"Hungryyy," Vrana explained for Shouyou, and under Ibera's amused stare turned into a white ferret, still wrapped around Shouyou's ankle.

Ah. Not quite up to talking yet, then.

They continued eating in silence, only interrupted by Ibera pulling Vrana into a play fight, the two of them shifting shapes so quickly it was almost impossible to tell what animals they were before they changed to another.

By the time Yukitaka and Shouyou were almost done, Ibera was a large German Shepherd cuddling a squirming cat Vrana.

Yukitaka finished the last of his food and set down his chopsticks on the empty box. "So," he started again. "Want to talk to me now?"

Shouyou looked down and scratched his cheek, looking embarrassed. By the stairs with Ibera, Vrana started struggling in earnest and shifted into a wasp, finally making her escape. She settled down on the wall near the ceiling, away from reach.

"It wasn't anything, really," Shouyou admitted at last. "Just more of the same. _You're so short, where's your team pipsqueak? You got yourself an invisible pipsqueak team or something, you guys going to Nationals?_ You know what they always say." Vrana flew back down and was suddenly a snake again, this time a constrictor large enough to wrap herself around Shouyou's torso and squeeze him comfortingly.

With Ibera tucked under his arm, Yukitaka hummed thoughtfully as he watched Shouyou play with the tip of Vrana's tail. "Just because they always say the same things doesn't mean it upsets you any less. As well it shouldn't."

"And you know they're just being mean for no reason, right? You can totally play volleyball if you want to," Ibera offered.

"I know," Shouyou nodded. "But it's just so! So! Annoying! It's none of their business! What do they care if I'm short or not, if I play or not, if I have a team or not?!"

"Yeah," Yukitaka agreed. "They're just being bullies." Ibera nodded in agreement.

Shouyou just kept getting more and more agitated as he went on. "And even so! The Small Giant could do it! He played volleyball and he was the team's _ace!_ " Shouyou shot to his feet, almost buzzing with energy as he started pacing. Vrana immediately let go of him, shifting shapes, and flew to the floor. "I want to be like him! I want to play and play and be on the court longer than anybody else! I can do it!"

He stopped abruptly, looking down at his feet, hands loose at his sides. Yukitaka and Ibera both watched, a little surprised. Shouyou didn't usually get like this. He was more the type to be loudly upset while it was happening, then silently upset once it was over, then vaguely embarrassed after. 

A tense silence settled in, broken only by the soft sounds probably coming from Vrana somewhere to the side. "Oh. Guess I know now..." Shouyou muttered in a strange voice.

Yukitaka leaned forward and tilted his head, trying to catch a glimpse of Shouyou's face. Once he did, he froze. At his side, Ibera went rigid.

"I'll just have to show them I can do it. I'll play. No matter what."

What a face. He looked... Yukitaka didn't even know how to describe how Shouyou looked. 

He doubted those bullies would ever say anything again if they could have seen his face right then. 

At his side, Ibera became a rabbit.

Shouyou's eyes rose from the ground to Yukitaka's face, cold and serious and- "I'll defeat everyone in the way. And go to Nationals." He said it with more than determination. Shouyou stated it as a _fact_.

Yukitaka shuddered.

"Shoouyouuu! I feel weird!"

The moment was broken by Vrana's whine. It jolted Shouyou out of his strange mood immediately and he rushed to his daemon's side, now vaguely panicky. "Vrana! What's wrong?"  
Yukitaka, still recovering from whatever just then had been, followed quickly.

"I don't know, I just," Vrana was saying as she squirmed in place, fliching away from Shouyou when he tried to touch. "I'm all shaky! I-" She interrupted herself to shift into a beautiful red fox. "I- I don't feel right?" Her form changed again, growing larger, her fur lightening to a golden yellow, and she was a golden retriever.

 _Ah_ , Yukitaka thought. _This is a bit early._

"You don't feel right? Should we go to the nurse? Are you dying? Are we dying?" Aaaand Shouyou was panicking.

Vrana grew larger, her ears rounding, her tail curling. Her fur changed colours again and she was a Husky. Hmmm. All dog forms. A canine seemed likely.

"Calm down, right now! Shouyou!" Ibera scolded with her you-better-do-as-I-tell-you-or-you're-not-going-to-like-what-I-do voice.

"She's right. I think I know what this is," Yukitaka added, trying to sound as calm as possible.

It seemed to work because Shouyou quieted down, even as he kept fluttering about around Vrana as she kept shifting. A fox again, then back to different dog breeds, flickering by so quickly they were difficult to identify. "What?!" Shouyou demanded, wringing his hands.

"I think she's settling," Yukitaka explained, and he couldn't help it if he sounded a little in awe. He'd never witness a daemon settling before. Ibera, now a dove and sitting on his shoulder, leaned into his neck, watching Vrana just as intently as he was. Soon enough that would be her. 

Shouyou's eyes widened. "Now? I thought-"

Yukitaka shook his head. "It tends to happen by the end of middle school, but it's not that unusual to happen before."

"Oh... oh!" Shouyou turned back to his daemon, whose fast shifting seemed to be slowing down. With each change she seemed to be getting larger. "Settling..."

"Almost... not quite right..." Vrana was muttering as all three of them watched her in expectant silence.

Her tail curled and parts of her fur grew darker and darker until she was black and white, a Husky. It didn't stop, she kept growing and growing, her fur lengthened a bit. Was she going to be some type of Husky?

And then Vrana's tail straightened to a line, her head became bigger, her legs lengthened while her paws grew thicker and all her fur started darkening. She gained height but lost some bulk, her chest narrowing, and her ears became fluffy with fur covering them on the front. Her fur darkened further until it was pitch black and her eyes went from bright blue to green to deep gold- and it all stopped.

Well. Looked like Yukitaka hadn't been wrong. She _was_ some kind of dog...

"Done?" Ibera was the one to ask, unable to stop her curiosity.

"I think so!" Vrana chirped back, happy and excited. She looked up at Shouyou, "I think this is it!"

"Uwaaahh!!" Shouyou finally threw himself at her, arms locking around her furry neck. "Look at you! You look so cool, Vrana!"

"Gehehehe you think so? You really think so?!"

"I dooo! Uwoohhh! So cool!"

They both laughed and cheered and were clearly on cloud nine, and Yukitaka couldn't help but laugh too. 

If his hunch was correct, there might be some trouble ahead for Shouyou and Vrana, but for now they were both so happy after they'd been so upset earlier that he just couldn't say anything.

And besides, if he thought about it, it made perfect sense. Someone as wild and willing to beat down all comers as Shouyou? 

A half-wolf daemon was not an unexpected turn of events at all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karasuno's reputation, before and after.

Before the first years joined, Karasuno wasn't exactly considered intimidating. Their old third years made up most of the team, and they didn't exactly have the most impressive presence or particularly intimidating daemons. Asahi's height and Tanaka's delinquent looks alone were not enough to give the team anything remotely close to a menacing look. Coupled with their tendency towards loss, Karasuno marching into the gym on the days of the preliminaries didn't give anyone pause. 

The difference after the first years join is so apparent it's almost laughable. 

Once the third years graduate and Sawamura becomes the captain, with the exception of Asahi's ferret, all the daemons in the team are birds. Birds of prey, yes, but that doesn't help on the visual intimidation factor front.

But then the first years join, and suddenly, things are very different.

The first time they attend a competitive gathering, the crowds part before them. Karasuno's confidence has been renewed and born anew, stronger than ever now that the old and the new blood have come together to join determination to win with more firepower. They step into the gym with victory in their sight and knowing they're more than strong enough to keep fighting for it. 

Clearly, it gives them a whole new vibe, and it's almost visible. 

And then, there's the daemons- their flock of birds of prey gains some new members, and is now preceded by the prowling, flexible stride of a leopard. Not any less noticeable is the confident fox that follows it, bright eyes observing everything, or the black crow perched on its back.

Foxes have a reputation, and big felines are an exotic and feared daemon as it is, and so Kageyama's clouded leopard and Tsukishima's red fox would already be eye-catching enough on their own and make whispers start circulating about Karasuno. But then they're followed by Hinata's daemon, and the shock waves as people realize what has just walked into the gym are almost visible.

"Is that a wolf?"

"Seriously?"

"I heard it's that little guy's..."

"A wolf daemon..."

"That kid?!"

"I can't believe someone in this day and age..."

"No way..."

When the Karasuno regulars step into the court, the opponents' eyes are already glued to Hinata before the match even starts. 

Greatest decoy indeed.


	4. Chapter 4

What Hinata had wanted the most was a team.

Okay, no. He wanted to play _volleyball_ , and he wanted to play it with a team. And he wanted to be good for his team, he wanted his team to accept him and Vrana completely. He wanted to fight for his right to stay on the court and win, and then keep winning for his team. That's what Hinata had wanted from the moment he'd seen the small giant on TV.

After Vrana had settled, and people around them had started pulling back and watching them both from a distance with undisguised wariness in their eyes, that feeling had only intensified.

Yukigaoka hadn't had a boys' team, but they'd still tried to make it work. The girls were awesome. And in his third year, his friends, even though they belonged to other clubs, had been even more awesome and come with him to have an actual, official match.

And then he'd crashed and burned. Like Vrana had said, winning with a team of total amateurs was almost impossible. But Hinata had still hoped. He'd been determined to fight.

Hadn't helped any. The King of the Court and his team had smashed Hinata's with barely a thought.

So Hinata had come out of that with three burning desires: to have a true team. To step on a court again. And to win against the King of the Court, Kageyama Tobio. 

Kageyama was incredibly talented, that had been clear from the very first point of the match. He was incredibly talented, and also ruthless. He'd had no mercy for his own teammates, let alone Hinata's team. Not that Hinata had wanted the King to go easy on them! But... Stupid King. And his stupid face. And his stupid everything. Hinata was going to crush his team to bits once they played against each other in high school!

Vrana agreed. Vrana also had some things to settle with the King's daemon - some kind of leopard? - as he'd almost bitten her when they'd ran into Vrana and Hinata near the bathroom.

Vrana had approached him expecting to do the usual greeting between daemons, casually observing and sniffing at each other with some distance between them, and the King's daemon had snapped at her! Like he'd bite if she got any closer! When she'd barely taken a step in his direction! It had been totally uncalled for, and Vrana was mildly offended. Just because she was a wolf daemon (half wolf, actually!) didn't mean she was just going to randomly _attack_ others. She didn't deserve to be treated like that.

Add to that the King's nerve to call Hinata out, as if he hadn't been putting any effort into volleyball, and Vrana's desire to win against them as well was just as strong as Hinata's.

So Hinata and Vrana had headed to Karasuno (the Small Giant's high school! Uwooohhh!), determined to find a team, _their_ team. 

Only to step into the gym and find the King of the Court serving, his leopard daemon running around bringing him the balls back.

"GAAAH!" Hinata and Vrana both screeched in outrage. He pointed a trembling finger at an equally surprised Kageyama Tobio. " _What are you doing here?!_ "

What Hinata had wanted the most was a team. A good team, a team just for him and Vrana. But of course, of COURSE the asshole King came to Karasuno. Because of course fucking not, Hinata's life wasn't hard enough already. 

"Goddamnit," Vrana growled next to him, her neck fur ruffling. Hinata couldn't have agreed more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I mentioned none of this is beta-read? And I barely edit. So typos, constant tense changes, awkward sentences, etc, are kind of inevitable. My apologies. 
> 
> Next will probably be something about Kageyama. Kageyama's daemon, by the way, is a male clouded leopard named Kian. His colouring is a bit darker than usual for the average individual of the species. And he's very pretty!
> 
> anyway, on to another topic... **WHAT KIND OF DAEMON WOULD OIKAWA HAVE?!**
> 
> I picked daemons for everyone in Karasuno (except Ukai and Takeda-sensei) and I'm only now realizing I'm going to have to figure out what kind of daemon Oikawa has. SUGGESTIONS WELCOME. HELP ME, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO ABOUT THIS. (also my tumblr is [here](http://volleyball-crow.tumblr.com/), feel free to drop by).
> 
> Now I'll go back to not-studying and not-writing-the-Tsukishima-fic. Because procrastination ftw.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to see what would happen if Hinata's real nature was visible to everyone upon first meeting him. So: daemon!AU.
> 
> By the way, Vrana is actually a wolf/dog hybrid. They're bigger and have more stamina than pure wolves. Have a pic!
> 
> This will not be a proper fic, more like a collection of brief scenes in this AU, posted whenever I feel like it. I have some things in mind, and I've already picked daemons for pretty much all of Karasuno. Scenes coming up: Hinata and Yukitaka in middle school, the moment Vrana settled; Kageyama and Hinata's first meeting; Karasuno when they first attend the preliminaries after Hinata, Kageyama, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi join the team.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @[volleyball-crow](http://volleyball-crow.tumblr.com/).
> 
> More info on daemon!AUs [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A6mon_%28His_Dark_Materials%29).
> 
> **Quick summary of how daemon AUs, and _this daemon AU in particular_ , work:**   
> 
> 
> * everyone has a daemon. Daemons are animal representations of human souls (more or less...), fully corporeal and of the opposite sex of their human, though there are extremely rare cases in which they're the same.
>   
> 
> * touching another person's daemon without permission is one of the highest offenses there is, and usually only one's significant other will have permission to touch a person's daemon.
>   
> 
> * children's daemons have no set form, and they can shapeshift at will. This lasts until a daemon "settles", sometime during the human's puberty.
>   
> 
> * in the modern, "civilized" days, daemons that settle as large felines or canines (read: big, wild predatory animals) are viewed as unusual and associated with problematic childhoods and tough, dangerous personalities. The wolf, in particular, is called "the soldier's daemon" and it's very rare these days, even among actual soldiers and other armed forces.
>   
> 
> * by the way, not everyone agrees with the above mentioned stereotypes, of course, but that's the general opinion, and if nothing else, people are intimidated by large daemons.


End file.
